California Restaurants

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We went out to dinner on Saturday (March 22, 2003) this week and we initially headed for the Mexican restaurant near here as I had a coupon. Then I discovered that people were knee deep in front of the restaurant and the coupon was only for M-Th. So we had a choice - Indian or Japanese. We picked Japanese.

The restaurant has a suchi/sashimi bar in the middle, and a number of tables in a horse-shoe shape around a chef in the middle of a big grill, plus a few just plain tables. We took the plain table because to go to the grill we would have had to wait. This was a mistake.

Most of the grill chefs put on quite a performance - there were at least two flame-ups per group causing everyone to shriek. Unfortunately, it took people a long time to get a seat at the grills, and after they were seated it was a long time before you got to eat anything.

In 2013, we went back and we went early on Wednesday night so we would not have to wait. This time we got to sit at the grill and see the show. This seems to be someplace that our daughter might like. We had to wait to eat until the table was full. At the other end from us was a couple - I think he worked on the Navy base. The other four people were probably college students.

Favorite Dish: In 2013, we got a clear soup (which I thought at first she said was a finger bowl), and a salad. Bob ordered Hibachi chicken for $15.95, and I ordered Asahi Steak for $17.95

Neither of us is really sure about sushi, so we got tempora. First we had a kind of salty soup with greens and little chunks of tofu in it. Then we got a small limp bowl of greens saturated with the house dressing (and chopsticks to eat it with). Bob got shrimp tempora and I got chicken. We got a sauce and rice with it. I like tempora, but after awhile it gets greasy Fortunately I had saved my spoon from the soup so I could eat the rice without fooling with the chopsticks. We asked for water and tea, and the waitress had to be asked twice for the tea (hot green tea). The meal cost $29.29 for the two of us, and it took a long time to get the bill. Bob finally left her $35.00 cash so we wouldn't have to wait for the credit card to come back.

The paper that wrapped the chop sticks had the prices on it - Nigri Sushi ranged from a high of $6.00 for two pieces of UNI (fresh Sea Urchin) fo $3.00 for crab. For Maki Suishi the highest priced item was $8.50 for Chesapeake Bay ROll (deep fried soft shelled crab with avocado and cucumber). Seaweed salad was $3.50.

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We were going out for our weekly dinner out and I had a coupon, but the coupon was only good for Thursday, Friday and Saturday and this was Wednesday. So we drove over to Wildewood to see what was there, and saw the New York Buffet which for some reason I thought would be pizza. But it wasn't. It was Chinese. There are two other Chinese buffets in the county - one in Lexington Park, and one in Leonardtown. I think I ate here previously when it was the Aloha

This one has a lunch buffet, a dinner buffet and sells food from the buffet by the pound. It is $4.00 a pound for lunch and $5.00 a pound at dinner. We saw many people come in to carry out food by the pound but it was really early so we were the only ones eating there.

Their website says
You can enjoy our all-you-can-eat buffet, or selections from our menu. Try our tantalizing Mongolian BBQ available with a spicy, brown, or garlic sauce. If you are in the mood for sushi, enjoy our superb specialties with freshly prepared spicy mayonnaise, wasabi, or pickled ginger. Get a taste of home with our american favorites, such as chicken wings and nuggets, french fries, and ribs. There is also seafood, get all-you-can-eat shrimp, crab legs, salmon, mussels, crayfish, or calamari. If you choose a lighter fare, our fresh and delicious salad bar is the right choice.

Favorite Dish: We had Mongolian BBQ in Miami so I would have tried that but all that was there was sushi and I don't care for that. For my first plate I picked sesame chicken, hard boiled eggs, curly pasta salad, some peel and eat shrimp and a stuffed mushroom. Halfway through picking, I remembered that I had a photography assignment to 'play with my food' and I thought this would be a good opportunity for that. So when I got back to my seat, I made a face with my food and photographed it before I ate it. The sesame chicken was particularly good. My second plate I got a crab and cheese casserole, some more sesame chicken, General Tso's chicken and white rice

Bob started out with the shrimp and crab legs and had a really hard time eating the crab legs. The dinner price was $10.95 with $1 off for being seniors which I think included drinks (we had hot tea), and Bob tipped $5.00

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We've watched this restaurant being built in the row along with Olive Garden and Cracker Barrel, so when we got back from our trip, my husband suggested we go here for our weekly dinner out. It was quite crowded for a Thursday night, and we had to wait about half an hour for a table (which we don't usually do). The service was reasonably good, but the kitchen was a little slow so dinner took longer than usual

Favorite Dish: Bob had the baby back ribs with mashed potatoes which he thought were good, and I had the Flo's filet with sweet potato. Each did had a side and a salad with it. I ate the vegetables and took the steak home to eat later. I then got the Golden Nugget Fried Cheesecake which came with ice cream and I had the ice cream there and took the nuggets home. I found them tough (i.e. I couldn't cut them in two with a fork or a spoon) when I went to eat them later.

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Chick-fil-A has breakfast including such items as

* Biscuit
* Chick-fil-A® Chick-n-Minis™ 3-count
* Chick-fil-A® Chicken Biscuit
* Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit
* Sausage Biscuit
* Biscuit and Gravy
* Breakfast Burrito (chicken)
* Breakfast Burrito (sausage)
* Sunflower Multigrain Bagel
* Chicken, Egg & Cheese on Sunflower Multigrain Bagel
* Chick-fil-A® Chicken Platter
* Chick-fil-A® Bacon Platter
* Chick-fil-A® Sausage Platter
* Hash Browns
* Bacon (One Slice)
* Cheese (One Slice)
* Egg (One Folded)
* Sausage (One Patty)
* Cinnamon Cluster

Drinks
* Chick-fil-A® Lemonade
* Chick-fil-A® Diet Lemonade
* Iced Tea Sweetened
* Iced Tea Unsweetened
* Coca-Cola Classic®
* Diet Coke®
* Dr Pepper®
* DASANI Bottled Water
* Cafe' Blends Coffee
* Orange Juice

They are always closed on Sunday

Favorite Dish: I had eaten at Chick-fil-A once when I was driving home from my mom's and wasn't too impressed. So I decided that I need to go again.

Chick-fil-A has mostly chicken sandwiches, nuggets and strips. They also have wraps and salads. No hamburger. They have fries or you can substitute a fresh fruit cup for an additional 55 cents.

Classics

* Chick-fil-A® Chicken Sandwich
* Chick-fil-A® Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich
* Chick-fil-A® Chargrilled Chicken Club Sandwich
* Chick-fil-A® Chicken Salad Sandwich
* Chick-fil-A Chick-n-Strips® (4 or 6-count)
* Chick-fil-A® Nuggets (4-6 in Kid's Meal or 8-12 pack)

Desserts

* Icedream® Cup
* Icedream® Cone
* Chick-fil-A® Cheesecake
* Chick-fil-A® Lemon Pie
* Fudge Nut Brownie

I got a fresh fruit cup (instead of fries), carrot salad and lemon pie for $4.25. I love the carrot salad

When we went to the county fair (2012) we got coupons for a free sandwich with each ticket. So we went again (twice). The second time I got a chicken salad sandwich, waffle fries, and a sundae. Bob got a regular sandwich and a milkshake. There was a choir from Spring Ridge Middle School singing.

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Whenever I have been to Cracker Barrel before, I have been disappointed in either the food or the service or both. I think this might be because I expect the food with folksy descriptions to be like the food I remember. I keep trying the chicken and dumplings and getting stogy pasta type things instead of a dumpling. Also I think most of the stuff in their store is junk.

But there is a new store in our area, so I decided to go for our weekly dining out.

We had to wait a few minutes and they don't have any place to sit inside (because of the store) so we had to sit outside in the rockers. It wasn't bad because it was nice weather. Had it been snowing or raining or very hot, it would have been unpleasant - the porch faces west, so especially bad if it has been hot.

Favorite Dish: The service was very quick and since I avoided ordering the things that had disappointed me before, the food was pretty good. I had a large cranberry juice $2.59 and a breakfast sandwich - this was sourdough bread with a circle cut out of it and on the side, and an egg fried in the middle of it. I thought it was good. I had a side with it. Bob had chicken livers and mashed potatoes but he didn't like the breading on them. I had peach cobbler for dessert. We had to ask for the biscuits and they came at the end so we got a box and took home some of my bacon, some of his chicken livers and the rolls which I had for lunch the next day.

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When we've been to Ruby Tuesday in the past it has been VERY noisy, and my husband has hesitated to go back. However, it came up to our weekly night out, and I had a coupon for Ruby Tuesday for up to $10 off. And it was early (before 6) and we thought it shouldn't be too crowded so we went.

We were seated without waiting. I wanted to take a picture of/look at the salad bar, but didn't get a chance. It was NOT too noisy, because they had CNN on the TVs with the sound turned off and the captions on so you could actually tell what was going on.

Update 9/03: We had another coupon for buy one entree get one free, so we went again. Again we were seated right away, although the restaurant was semi-full already at about 5:45 pm.

This time I managed to get the salad bar with my entree ($2.99 extra) and it was quite good - better than the average salad bar. I also had a steak and potato. I had enough to eat that I didn't get any dessert.

Favorite Dish: I had the steak tacos. They were good, but not as good as at ChiChis. For one thing, the tacos were cold, the steak was in big chunks so it was hard to get into the tortilla. I got 4 tortillas, chunks of steak on sauteed bell peppers, rice, grated cheese, chunks of tomatoes, grated lettuce a dollop of sour cream and a little pot of salsa.

My husband had fish, and with it came a huge tree of brocolli. He also had iced tea and I had strawberry lemonade.

We didn't get any bread with the meal. The service was OK but it was hard to get the check.

I had the chocolate 'short' cake (as opposed to the tall cake) for dessert - that was very good.

The bill was $29 before the tip but after a $10.00 credit.

9/03: The bill with a free entree was $21.27 before the tip. That was for one entree with a salad bar and two iced teas.

9/05: We went to Ruby Tuesdays again on a Thursday night - not crowded and were seated right away. It was a new menu and didn't have any price for the non-alcoholic drinks. The waitress said they were $1.85. Bob got the coconut shrimp and I had a stacked chicken. That apparently is the entree between mashed potatoes and onion rings. They were both around $11 each. I got a blonde brownie ($4.99) for dessert and mostly just ate the ice cream and brought the brownie home.

2012 - We had dinner here again and it was very good. I had a non-alcoholic berry fusion $2.99, a petite sirloin $11.99 and Italian Cake $4.99. Bob had the half rack of ribs for $13.99.

We went again in 2012 with a coupon. This time the service was good and we got four little biscuits to start. I ate them all. I got the Parmesan Shrimp Pasta and Bob got the Petite Sirloin with spaghetti squash

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When we are at home, we usually go out to dinner once a week. This was a custom I started when we were first married. Then it was usually Friday because we were both working and I went to market on Saturday so by Friday, I was tuckered out and out of food.

This week we went to the local Applebee's. I don't think we have been to the local Applebee's before. They can also supply meals 'to go'

Favorite Dish: Bob usually gets ribs whenever we go anywhere, and that's what he did this time. His riblets were $11.59. I got a small steak with boiled potatoes and stuffed mushrooms ($13.99) from the Weight Watcher's menu) and I drank cranberry juice. For dessert I splurged on the triple Chocolate Meltdown® $5.99

The total bill was $34.00

My husband enjoyed the Indian food we had in England, but when we have tried Indian food here, he just doesn't like it. So I doubt if we will ever eat here.

I took the picture to finish up the roll after we went to the Monterey Restaurant which is just up the row from this and apparently the restaurant has changed hands and names since the time we saw it